Breast Cancer Patients Face More Imaging Today

Compared to the early 1990s, women with breast cancer today undergo many more imaging tests during the course of their treatment, according to a recent study reported by HealthDay.com. The study, presented at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium earlier this month, looked at the cases of 67,000 women diagnosed with breast cancer from 1992 to 2005. In 1992, about 5% of patients had imaging twice or more during the preoperative period compared to about 20% by 2005, according to the article. About 4% of patients in 1992 had more than one imaging test performed in a single day compared to more than 27% in 2005. One limitation of the study is that it didn’t seek to determine whether the imaging tests were appropriate or not. Representatives for the American College of Radiology said they were not surprised by the study because practice standards have changed greatly since 1992, and the benefits of additional testing wasn’t analyzed. For the complete article click here.